I thought it'd probably be useful to collect a few how to's amongst the OT users on the forum. Help post up some tricks you find useful. No basic tutorials (Cuckoo made a few really good ones), but the sort of more intricate performance oriented ones.

I dont know about you others but my manual for example got some pages missing.

Firstly the possibility to play "Live" . So you can play notes and alter trigs live after pressing rec+play.

Another good button combo is scale+rec/play/stop, it copys and pastes pattern trigger info. As Func+Rec/play/stop copys and pastes the track in total (for example from one pattern to another)

If you have other gear MIDI sequenced by Octa you do not actually have to dig the other gear manual MIDI sheet (Like i did ), instead of that you can just make Octa midi learn the function you want to change on external gear.
1) FUNC+click any of the six data knobs to make it listen to CC changes made in the external gear
2) Touch the desired knob or button on external gear

I guess this is the octatrack thread? I'm hoping nobody will mind a rant too much as I have to say I'm really not enjoying the Octatrack at all. hopefully you know something that can help me. I literally did not go to a party tonight (Saturday night) so I could stay in and learn this thing and it just leaves me feeling really low because I (stupidly) rested so much hope on it.

I really don't think its a sampler that's designed for me, and I think I really only could've known that by getting one and finding out for myself.

I constantly find myself not really doing what I want to do with it but what I CAN do with it and its really disappointing. I keep recording in a nice sample, spending the time to put in loads of slices thinking if I just go back to basics maybe I can get some joy from it.

Once i start playing the slices though I just realise its not what I want at all. The slices are all one shots and only ever will be one shots as far as I can tell... which is really reaaallly not very good for how I use a sampler... and to be fair how most people use a sampler?? Being able to let go of the button and the sample stops is standard stuff... how can you achieve any really rhythmic complexity and variety without it unless all the one shots are short like drum sounds?.
Then you realise you cant pitch any of the individual slices (as far as I know) you have to pitch them all together or not at all. Of course you can do it on the sequencer but first you have to record a sequence, then you have to let the sequence play while you very slowly work out what pitch you want for that particular spot. This absolutely kills all chance of finding a good sequence/pattern/loop FIRST and then doing all the octatrack shit to it. How are you meant to know what sounds good if you cant play around?

As far as I'm concerned though I care less about doing the octatrack shit to it and more about being able to find a good loop by experimenting and playing with what ive got. This is how ive always made music and how I believed almost everybody else did. You don't have a midi keyboard and only play one note in several times in a loop then go in to the sequencer with a mouse and painstakingly change stuff up

on top of that there are a load of other things I don't like but could totally deal with as part of the package... if it allowed me to feel like I can actually create on it.

I would really love to not have to get rid of this thing. anybody got any insight into how they start building tracks on this thing? or got any advice or some sort of life line for me?

I just looked at a video on youtube, is called "Octatrack product presentation", I think the octatrack is a sequencer but made mainly for live performance. Yes it can be used in the studio as well but maybe you need something a bit more simple and very handy!! I personally like the octatrack because you can do soo much with it, I guess before you start to make good stuff on it the device need to be explored for months!!!

I guess this is the octatrack thread? I'm hoping nobody will mind a rant too much as I have to say I'm really not enjoying the Octatrack at all. hopefully you know something that can help me. I literally did not go to a party tonight (Saturday night) so I could stay in and learn this thing and it just leaves me feeling really low because I (stupidly) rested so much hope on it.

I really don't think its a sampler that's designed for me, and I think I really only could've known that by getting one and finding out for myself.

I constantly find myself not really doing what I want to do with it but what I CAN do with it and its really disappointing. I keep recording in a nice sample, spending the time to put in loads of slices thinking if I just go back to basics maybe I can get some joy from it.

Once i start playing the slices though I just realise its not what I want at all. The slices are all one shots and only ever will be one shots as far as I can tell... which is really reaaallly not very good for how I use a sampler... and to be fair how most people use a sampler?? Being able to let go of the button and the sample stops is standard stuff... how can you achieve any really rhythmic complexity and variety without it unless all the one shots are short like drum sounds?.
Then you realise you cant pitch any of the individual slices (as far as I know) you have to pitch them all together or not at all. Of course you can do it on the sequencer but first you have to record a sequence, then you have to let the sequence play while you very slowly work out what pitch you want for that particular spot. This absolutely kills all chance of finding a good sequence/pattern/loop FIRST and then doing all the octatrack shit to it. How are you meant to know what sounds good if you cant play around?

As far as I'm concerned though I care less about doing the octatrack shit to it and more about being able to find a good loop by experimenting and playing with what ive got. This is how ive always made music and how I believed almost everybody else did. You don't have a midi keyboard and only play one note in several times in a loop then go in to the sequencer with a mouse and painstakingly change stuff up

on top of that there are a load of other things I don't like but could totally deal with as part of the package... if it allowed me to feel like I can actually create on it.

I would really love to not have to get rid of this thing. anybody got any insight into how they start building tracks on this thing? or got any advice or some sort of life line for me?

I guess this is the octatrack thread? I'm hoping nobody will mind a rant too much as I have to say I'm really not enjoying the Octatrack at all. hopefully you know something that can help me. I literally did not go to a party tonight (Saturday night) so I could stay in and learn this thing and it just leaves me feeling really low because I (stupidly) rested so much hope on it.

I really don't think its a sampler that's designed for me, and I think I really only could've known that by getting one and finding out for myself.

I constantly find myself not really doing what I want to do with it but what I CAN do with it and its really disappointing. I keep recording in a nice sample, spending the time to put in loads of slices thinking if I just go back to basics maybe I can get some joy from it.

Once i start playing the slices though I just realise its not what I want at all. The slices are all one shots and only ever will be one shots as far as I can tell... which is really reaaallly not very good for how I use a sampler... and to be fair how most people use a sampler?? Being able to let go of the button and the sample stops is standard stuff... how can you achieve any really rhythmic complexity and variety without it unless all the one shots are short like drum sounds?.
Then you realise you cant pitch any of the individual slices (as far as I know) you have to pitch them all together or not at all. Of course you can do it on the sequencer but first you have to record a sequence, then you have to let the sequence play while you very slowly work out what pitch you want for that particular spot. This absolutely kills all chance of finding a good sequence/pattern/loop FIRST and then doing all the octatrack shit to it. How are you meant to know what sounds good if you cant play around?

As far as I'm concerned though I care less about doing the octatrack shit to it and more about being able to find a good loop by experimenting and playing with what ive got. This is how ive always made music and how I believed almost everybody else did. You don't have a midi keyboard and only play one note in several times in a loop then go in to the sequencer with a mouse and painstakingly change stuff up

on top of that there are a load of other things I don't like but could totally deal with as part of the package... if it allowed me to feel like I can actually create on it.

I would really love to not have to get rid of this thing. anybody got any insight into how they start building tracks on this thing? or got any advice or some sort of life line for me?

First I just want to say that's a real bummer you still aren't getting on with it. One can watch all the demos in the world, but I usually just buy something if I'm interested in it. What something can do "on paper" and what I can do with it in real life are usually two very different things.

I will say though, what you just said about not being able to experiment with pitching and playing things in the way every other sampler in the world works has convinced me to never buy an Octatrack. Probably not what I'm looking for. While I do tend to step sequence a lot, not being able to just goof around and very simply play with samples would kill any usefullness for me as well.

I've always asked people if I can use the Octa as a straightforward regular old sampler and sequencer and they've always said yes. I guess I didn't explain myself well because it seems this isn't true : ( Makes me wary of the Digitakt as well and honestly glad I went back to the long trust in the Electribe series. I'd rather have to deal with the limitations of samples/FX trails getting cutoff than all that nonsense.

Life line suggestion--and maybe the other Octa owners can help out here too--is it possible to get some kind of midi pad controller (like MPC style) to help FMB use the Octa in the way he is used to using a sampler?

The octatrack is called a performance sampler for a reason. You can use it as a studio tool 100% but it is also a great backing track/ center of a live performance setup machine.
I am not too familiar with the elektron stuff, but the a4 is the same idea, on paper it's not a very interesting synth, but the sequencer is where it's at.
The octatrack is the same imo. It is working for me cuz I will chop drum loops and some other monophonic stuff (bass and ambiance) and sequence them and play guitar or other stuff over them but yeah, get a sample, do a little with it, and use sequencer steps to do a TON more after the fact.
There are videos out there of hip hop people using it more like an mpc but I am pretty sure that's not its main strength.
Having owned both an octatrack and an old mpc I think they are both very different in what your approach is to them, but in the end I am pretty sure you can achieve very similar results with either.

Thank you for the fun videos. It's been interesting to see how many different ways the Octatrack is being used all over the world. As mentioned earlier, Cuckoo has some interesting tutorials on how he gets down and dirty using his Octatrack, and then the videos posted here in this thread have another great variety of how these users are putting their flair into tracks.

I've had one now for about 5 years, and it seems I'm constantly learning more about it. It's a pretty versatile machine, and I think fits my style of playing. There are times I feel like pulling my hair out when trying to use the Pickup machine, or the sampler. It seems it's more of my coordination skills than the machines bugs or glitches at times. It has certainly come along way with the firmware upgrades though, and I certainly appreciate that.

Passing the output from the Analog Keys into it through guitar pedals or the Kaoss Pad really make for some interesting processing chains. I have the potential to tun 4 tracks from the Analog Keys into 28-32, which to be honest is WAY more than I need for my baby OCD of tweaking parameters. I have found that I certainly don't hit record enough as I'm hunting for the perfect pattern, and then find myself way off topic.

My one wish would be that Octatrack was Overbridge enabled. Having that on the Analog Keys is pretty killer, but now I'm not really passing it through the OT then into my mixer as I have direct access to the AD/DA. I suppose I can use the outs from the OT to pass into the Inputs of the Analog Keys, and have the ABCD inputs from the OT filled with 2-4 other pieces of other gear. I suppose my issue is trying to add too much to the mix.

Thank you again for sharing these walkthroughs. I'm looking forward to more, and if I make some time, might try and contribute at some point.

The octatrack is called a performance sampler for a reason. You can use it as a studio tool 100% but it is also a great backing track/ center of a live performance setup machine.
I am not too familiar with the elektron stuff, but the a4 is the same idea, on paper it's not a very interesting synth, but the sequencer is where it's at.
The octatrack is the same imo. It is working for me cuz I will chop drum loops and some other monophonic stuff (bass and ambiance) and sequence them and play guitar or other stuff over them but yeah, get a sample, do a little with it, and use sequencer steps to do a TON more after the fact.
There are videos out there of hip hop people using it more like an mpc but I am pretty sure that's not its main strength.
Having owned both an octatrack and an old mpc I think they are both very different in what your approach is to them, but in the end I am pretty sure you can achieve very similar results with either.

Very, very true of all the Elektron stuff. If you subtract the seqeuncer fromt the equation they mostly don't do anything innovative or exciting.

Got to put in some time, during which you will be limited in what you can do.

Read the manual already?

read my post already? I am honestly a little upset that I just spent about half an hour watching those videos and seeing nothing at all that deals with the things I mentioned, things I already knew to be correct. cheers bud.

yes of course I have read the manual. there are some things on the internet to do with the octatrack which are not v cool:

- the amount of posts absolutely everywhere of people saying that the octatrack is so great because it can do 'everything' when really a huge amount of straightforward functionality was omitted. this was on purpose and its the electron workflow maybe and that is totally fine but it makes the ubiquitous statement far from true

- any criticism of the octatrack = you haven't learnt it yet, you haven't read the manual, you don't know what youre doing.

so anyway I spent about 6 hours making a track today. it was very very slow progress even though I didn't need to look anything up, and then I went to reload to the last saved pattern and lost everything bar one track because I didn't save the samples from the buffers. fuck! my fault obviously but that was naff. it was sounding decent though I like the filter on this thing. I'm still on the fence about keeping it but I'm worried cause I just feel that mine is quite old and I put all my music money into it. if I do keep it I'm definitely gonna have to get maybe an electribe sampler to go with it.

I just looked at a video on youtube, is called "Octatrack product presentation", I think the octatrack is a sequencer but made mainly for live performance. Yes it can be used in the studio as well but maybe you need something a bit more simple and very handy!! I personally like the octatrack because you can do soo much with it, I guess before you start to make good stuff on it the device need to be explored for months!!!

What did you use before the octatrack??

hello mate, welcome to the forum

you have one? before ive used a few different samplers... all of them with their different flaws and plus points just like this one!